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Jeremy Borash
Borash interviewing Gail Kim prior to Lockdown.
Ring name(s)	J.B. Jeremy Borash
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[1]
Billed weight	180 lb (82 kg)
Born	(1974-07-19) July 19, 1974 (age 37)[2] Minneapolis, Minnesota
Resides	Nashville, Tennessee, Orlando, Florida
Debut	2000

Jeremy Borash (born July 19, 1974 in Minneapolis, Minnesota), is an American professional wrestling play-by-play commentator, announcer, ring announcer, booker, interviewer, producer and website designer. He was involved in World Championship Wrestling, the now defunct World Wrestling All-Stars promotion, and has been a very influential staff member of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling since its inception in 2002. He currently serves as the backstage interviewer for TNA, and is a member of the TNA creative team^{[citation needed]} as well as hosting TNA online content such as TNA Today.

Career[link]

Jeremy Borash was born just outside of Minneapolis, Borash started a career in broadcasting at the age of 15, hosting both a nightly radio talk show and live television show in the Twin Cities. Borash's radio show on KSMM in Minneapolis, and television show "Jeremy Borash Live!" won several Minnesota broadcasting awards, as well as leading to on-air positions at KSTP and KDWB in the Twin Cities.

After graduating from Brown Institute for Broadcasting in Minneapolis, Borash took a position at the age of 19 as a program director/morning show host at KOOL 92 FM in Fort Dodge, Iowa. His popular "Borash in the Morning" show featured a wide variety of entertainment, including such acts as actually hypnotizing local politicians on the air, skydiving from 13,000 feet over Fort Dodge, and his popular breakfast drive through, where Borash would personally deliver free breakfast to his listeners cars as they drove by. His involvement in local community activities included serving on the board of the United Way, as well as Honorary Chairman for the March of Dimes, which received national attention when Borash became the youngest person ever nominated for radio's prestigious Marconi Award for Broadcasting as America's Small Market Personality of the Year in 1996.

Career in radio[link]

Upon receiving this honor, offers came from around the country, and Borash chose to move back to Minnesota, as morning show host of KXLP in Mankato, Minnesota. At 22, Borash lasted only four months in Mankato, citing major creative differences with management after a New York radio consultant directed the station to name his on-air persona "Flash Borash." Borash soon found redemption months later, as he helped launch the syndicated "Ruth Koscielak Show," and as co-host, was back on the very station group he was fired from months earlier through the show's midwest syndication.

Career in wrestling[link]

Beginnings in wrestling[link]

While working weekdays on the Koscielak show in Minneapolis, Borash started a weekly Saturday morning wrestling show at the very station he started with at the age of 15. Through the show, Borash met internet wrestling pioneer Bob Ryder, who quickly pitched the show concept to Eric Bischoff of Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW)

World Championship Wrestling[link]

In March 1999, WCW Live! premiered to an online audience with their first guest on the show, Hulk Hogan. WCW Live! went on to become the most listened to streaming audio program in the world, often reaching 50k live audio streams nightly in an era of this new technology. While doing the nightly 2 hour internet show for WCW, Borash continued his stint on the Ruth Koscielak Show until August 1999, when he left Minneapolis to work full time in the offices of WCW in Atlanta, where he went on to become one of the head writers for WCW Monday Nitro on TNT, as well as WCW Thunder on TBS.

Later that year, Borash premiered for the first time on WCW TV, co-hosting the year end special for WCW on TBS. Borash went on to make several appearances on WCW television as a play-by-play announcer for WCW Monday Nitro and WCW Thunder. His role eventually led to an on-air character as Vince Russo's stooge, including a memorable episode where Borash was attacked by Goldberg while driving Russo in his own pope-mobile vehicle at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

World Wrestling All-Stars[link]

After the WWF purchased WCW in March 2001, Borash met Australian concert promoter Andrew McManus and together they launched the World Wrestling All-Stars organization. Later that year, Borash left for Australia and worked out of the offices of McManus at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. The promotion's first tour of Australia concluded with a live pay per view from the Sydney Superdome called "The Inception", where Borash provided play-by-play commentary alongside Jerry "The King" Lawler. The WWA would go to produce numerous international tours, as well as live pay per view events from Las Vegas, Nevada, Glasgow, Scotland, Melbourne, Australia, and Auckland, New Zealand, with Borash serving as executive producer and host.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2002-present)[link]

In March 2002, Borash returned to the United States to join Jeff Jarrett in launching TNA Wrestling in Nashville, Tennessee. As the second employee the company hired, Borash worked in several positions for the organization including ring announcer, video editor, and show writer.

In January 2006, Borash became the backstage interviewer for TNA's Impact! on Spike TV, a position he dreamt of as a child, watching his idol Mean Gene Okerlund in the AWA growing up in Minneapolis. Since becoming backstage interviewer, Borash actually became involved with the kayfabe politics of TNA, as his respect for Kurt Angle led him to be a constant presence during many of Angle's backstage segments and even gained him membership into Angle's stable, the Angle Alliance. He was humorously Karen Angle's maid of honor at her wedding vows renewal to Kurt on the Valentine's Day edition of Impact!.

In April 2007, Borash launched TNA Today on TNAWrestling.com, a show he hosts from the TNA corporate offices.

In early 2008, Borash announced that Samoa Joe was voted the MVP of TNA. Joe then attacked Borash, thus (kayfabe) injuring him, which is why Borash began wearing a neck brace on television. Borash has gone on to become the host of Internet based "TNA Spin Cycle" which airs on TNA's YouTube channel. On January 17, 2010, at Genesis new executive producer Eric Bischoff took Borash off television.^[3][4] After Mick Foley agreed to work with Bischoff, Borash was brought back as the backstage interviewer on February 14 at Against All Odds.^[5] At Sacrifice, Borash was made the new ring announcer. On June 14, 2010, Borash began working as the lead play-by-play commentator for TNA Xplosion.^[6] He also worked as the color commentator beside Mike Tenay on July 10, 2011, at the Destination X pay-per-view.^[7]

Borash also serves as announcer and host of "Ring Ka King".

Documentary of ECW and Hardcore Homecoming[link]

While working for TNA, Borash took up video editing and producing, and with only a laptop and video camera, set out to make a documentary on ECW, the organization Borash credits for rekindling his childhood love for professional wrestling. "Forever Hardcore" led to Borash co-promoting Hardcore Homecoming, a reunion of ECW wrestlers in Philadelphia's famed Viking Hall, the place where it all started. The Hardcore Homecoming event still holds the record for the largest gate of any independent show in US wrestling history, and was considered a historical success for the era, culminating with a surprise barbwire rematch of one of the most famous matches in ECW history with Terry Funk vs Sabu vs Shane Douglas, with featured referee Mick Foley. The show led to a Hardcore Homecoming tour, and the show's DVDs broke Billboard's Top 10 Sports and Rec DVD releases. The recent release of Forever Hardcore and Hardcore Homecoming in the UK debuted at #1 and #2 on the Sports and Recreational charts, over two years after their US release.

Other television appearances[link]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

• TNA profile
• Jeremy Borash at the Internet Movie Database
• Jeremy Borash on Twitter

Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American entrepreneur, professional wrestling booker and on-screen personality who is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later, the General Manager of World Wrestling Entertainment's Raw brand.

With an amateur background in Tae Kwon Do, Bischoff also sporadically performed as an in-ring competitor, and is a former WCW Hardcore Champion.^[2] He wrote an autobiography, titled Controversy Creates Cash, that was released in 2006 under WWE Books.

Professional wrestling career[link]

American Wrestling Association[link]

Bischoff started in wrestling working for the American Wrestling Association under owner Verne Gagne and would eventually become an on-air interviewer and host until the AWA folded in 1991. Bischoff at first worked in the sales department on the AWA's syndicated programming, and became an on-air personality virtually by accident and at the last minute. Larry Nelson, whom at the time was employed by the AWA as an announcer, was arrested under suspicion of a DUI.^[3] Because of Nelson's sudden unavailability, Verne Gagne and his son, Greg, opted to recruit Bischoff (who initially had no desire to be in front of the camera) to fill-in on the interviews. Bischoff believed that the Gagnes thought that he would be a good replacement due to his immediate availability in the television studio, and the fact that he was already wearing a suit and tie.

During the gradual demise of the AWA, the company was unable to meet payroll, and Bischoff auditioned for an announcer's position with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1990, but was not hired.

World Championship Wrestling[link]

In 1991, Bischoff joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as an announcer, debuting at The Great American Bash.

As an announcer, Bischoff reported to producer Tony Schiavone and WCW's Vice President of Broadcasting, Jim Ross. In 1993, after WCW President Bill Watts resigned from the company, Bischoff went to TBS executive Bill Shaw and WCW Vice President Bob Dhue to ask for the job of Executive Producer. At the time, Ross and Tony Schiavone seemed to be the two top candidates. However, Bischoff was hired in Watts' place.^[4] Schiavone remained a producer until the company's demise, but Ross was released from the company and ended up in the rival WWF.^[5] Initially, Bischoff and Dhue worked together as partners, but frequently clashed over the direction of the company.

In 1994, Bischoff was promoted from Executive Producer to Executive Vice President, effectively making him the boss of the entire company. Dhue resigned, as did event manager Don Sandefeur and junior vice president Jim Barnett. Bischoff convinced Turner executives to better finance WCW in order to compete with the WWF. Almost immediately, he used the money allotted to him to sign big names such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and others away from the WWF. He also invested money in production values and increased the number of WCW pay-per-views (first 7 a year, then 10, and then once a month). The plans paid off, and in 1995, WCW turned a profit for the first time in the company's history. By 1997, Bischoff's official job title was President of WCW.

[edit] Monday Nitro

During one meeting at the CNN Center in 1995, WCW Owner (via Turner Broadcasting) Ted Turner asked Bischoff how the company could possibly compete with the WWF. Bischoff, taken aback by the question, told Turner to put WCW on prime time television against the WWF's Monday Night Raw on the USA Network. At the time, the flagship show for WCW was WCW Saturday Night, a taped show that ran on Saturday nights at 6:05 pm (EST) on TBS, and was nowhere near the production value of Monday Night Raw. Bischoff argued that because of this, there was no direct competition between WCW and WWF for viewers. To the surprise of many within the wrestling industry (and those within Turner Broadcasting), and Bischoff himself, Turner agreed, and gave Bischoff a one hour prime time slot every Monday on TNT (in 1996, due to high ratings, it would expand to two hours, and eventually three hours in 1998).

Bischoff designed and produced the new show, WCW Monday Nitro, and showcased the company as a fresh alternative to the WWF. Bischoff has stated that he wanted to draw an audience by being different from the competition and not trying to be similar. Nitro was live each week, whereas at the time Raw was live every other week (with the next week's show taped after the live Raw on Tuesday nights). Knowing this, Bischoff would often give away Raw results to encourage viewers to watch his show instead. On Nitro, he called the WWF the World Whining Federation. In his book (Controversy Creates Ca$h), Bischoff describes the design for Nitro as being a complete alternative to the WWF. Raw catered to younger crowds, so Nitro went for the 18-35 male demographic. Character-wise, Raw featured larger than life cartoon characters, while Nitro would begin to integrate edgier characters with more depth. Raw tended to have lots of squash matches on its television each week during this part of its history while Nitro regularly showcased competitive matches that would normally be reserved for pay-per-view.

Because WCW and TNT were both part of Turner, Bischoff was able to start Nitro several minutes earlier than Raw, as well as provide a late-night rebroadcast so viewers who opted to watch Raw could still see the show (Not to mention West Coast viewers who—because the Turner networks operate on a single coast-to-coast live feed—would otherwise have missed Nitro entirely because of the three-hour time difference). With the influx of new money Bischoff also began signing wrestlers from around the world, including All Japan, New Japan, and Extreme Championship Wrestling to fill the undercard with quicker paced, more action-packed matches. Although most industry insiders had predicted a short and certain death for Nitro at the time, it was an immediate success. What would be dubbed the "Monday Night Wars" began, as Nitro beat Raw in their first head-to-head week and ran neck-and-neck with the WWF for the remainder of the year. The show garnered eleven ratings-victories by the end of 1995, and slowly but steadily, the popularity of the wrestling business in general began to grow during this period, driven largely by the direct competition between the two wrestling shows.

nWo[link]

In 1996, Bischoff signed WWF superstar Scott Hall, better known to audiences as "Razor Ramon". Two weeks later on Nitro, Hall was joined by Kevin Nash, better known as "Diesel", to become "The Outsiders". Bischoff intentionally depicted the duo as WWF rebels who were not under contract to WCW. To avoid legal action by the WWF, Bischoff, in a worked interview at The Great American Bash, asked point blank if they worked for the WWF, which both Hall and Nash emphatically denied. The Outsiders expanded and became the New World Order when perennial fan-favorite Hulk Hogan aligned himself with the Outsiders in July 1996.

The nWo was depicted as a rival company engaging in a "hostile takeover" of WCW. Week to week, the angle grew more complex, with a barrage of main-eventers, mid-carders, executives, referees, managers, and announcers involved in various subplots related to the onscreen "WCW vs nWo" power-struggle.

Led by the nWo storyline, WCW overtook the WWF as the number one wrestling promotion in America with Nitro defeating Raw in the ratings by a wide margin for 84 consecutive weeks. During this era, Bischoff moved from a commentator to a manager role with the nWo. His television character, dubbed "Eazy E" by Hall, which had always been a babyface-announcer, became a dictator and egomaniac as the nWo boss. Bischoff also enjoyed some mainstream exposure in his own right at the time, appearing on the HBO series Arli$$ as well as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Downfall of WCW[link]

In 1996, media conglomerate Time Warner had acquired Turner Broadcasting. Little by little, the new owners gave Bischoff slight restrictions as to what he was and was not allowed to do with WCW. Eventually the restrictions, ranging from the presentation and direction of WCW programming to the financing/budget, increased. In the summer of 1998, Bischoff was called to a meeting by individuals representing Time Warner's Standards & Practices department, and the conglomerate's Advertising Sales wing. It was during this meeting that Bischoff was outright ordered to alter WCW's format to a more "family-friendly" output. Knowing that this would never work due to the mature nature the show had been taking since its debut, Bischoff objected to the "new direction" and outright refused to comply, but eventually resigned himself to the fate upon realizing that with Ted Turner being forced out of power, Bischoff and WCW had lost their internal support.

The forced shift in WCW's programming, the addition of new show WCW Thunder, and the addition of a third hour to Nitro, took a great strain on the resources of Bischoff and the WCW staff. At the same time the WWF, buoyed by its new "Attitude" branding and product, began beating an increasingly stagnant WCW week after week in the Monday night ratings war. By January 1999, the tide had completely turned, after Bischoff's strategy of revealing Raw results backfired, and his revelation that Mick Foley would be winning the World Championship resulted in an unprecedented 600,000 Nitro viewers switching to Raw;. According to Controversy Creates Ca$h Bischoff marks the point when the Standards & Practices and Advertising Sales departments began applying heavy restrictions on WCW's creativity section as the time when he should have left the company, but he remained.

His TV presence disappeared, and a demoralized Bischoff began to turn his attention to projects other than WCW. When Bischoff returned from hiatus in April 1999, the company was in bad shape. He would try to unsuccessfully extend the WCW brand outside of wrestling with a restaurant called The Nitro Grill in Las Vegas (which went under in less than a year) and a brand of cologne. Bischoff also tried to bring in musical talent such as Kiss, Master P, Chad Brock, and Megadeth in an effort to co-brand with WCW's product, but none of these performances were able to make an impact in the ratings.^[6][7]

Replacement[link]

On September 10, 1999, Bischoff was suddenly relieved of his management position with WCW, by TBS Sports chief Harvey Schiller. The job title "President of WCW" was eliminated. He was replaced with WCW accountant Bill Busch, who was named Senior Vice President. One of Busch's first acts in charge was the additions of former WWF head writer Vince Russo and his colleague Ed Ferrara (both of whom had worked on Raw when said show began to overtake Nitro in the ratings) to head up WCW's creative direction.^[8]

Attempted purchase of WCW[link]

In late 2000 with WCW facing major financial woes, Siegel accepted Bischoff's offer to purchase the company. Bischoff and a group of investors known as Fusient Media Ventures signed a letter of intent to buy the company.^[9] Bischoff and Fusient briefly withdrew their offer when the WWF made an inquiry on WCW (due to the terms of a settlement, WWF had a right to bid on WCW's properties, should they ever be up for liquidation). When then-WWF broadcaster Viacom objected (fearing a WWF-owned show on a competing network), the Bischoff-Fusient consortium signed a new letter of intent.

However, if Siegel wanted nothing to do with WCW, then his new supervisor in the AOL Time Warner merger Jamie Kellner (former WB Network executive) wanted even less to do with the company. Named the new head of Turner Broadcasting, Kellner formally canceled all WCW programming from its television networks.^[10] With no network on which to air its programming, WCW was of little value to Bischoff and Fusient (Bischoff: "It made absolutely no sense for us to do the deal under those circumstances."),^[11] whose offer depended on being able to continue to air WCW programming on the Turner networks. With WCW programming canceled (and Viacom subsequently no longer objecting), the company was purchased by the WWF in March 2001 for a substantially lower price (approximately US $3.5 million) than what had been offered.

Between WCW and WWE careers[link]

Bischoff was appointed President of Matrats, a youth-based wrestling company.^[12]

World Wrestling Entertainment (2002–2007)[link]

General Manager of Raw (2002–2005)[link]

Bischoff during his time with WWE.

In 2002, Bischoff was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE, formerly WWF) to be the General Manager of Raw. Although primarily an on-screen role, Bischoff had a wide range of contacts within WWE to whom he could pitch creative ideas.^[13] His debut as Raw GM resurrected his characteristic brand of smarminess with the GM position, again playing the arrogant heel character he had perfected as the NWO boss in WCW. During his debut on Raw he told the audience about how he was president of WCW, Creator of the NWO and how he forced Vince McMahon to change the ways he does business.^[14] His reign as GM was longer than any other GM in WWE history and included "innovations" like the "Raw Roulette" and the Elimination Chamber, as well as feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, SmackDown General Manager Stephanie McMahon, and former Extreme Championship Wrestling owner Paul Heyman. At Taboo Tuesday 2004 Bischoff would have his head shaved after failing to beat his "kayfabe" Nephew Eugene. Bischoff then began a face turn after his head got shaved. He favoured face wrestlers such as Randy Orton, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho. Bischoff "kayfabe" took a vacation after allowing Randy Orton's team to become General Managers for up to four weeks with every member being the General Manager once a week.

Bischoff would turn heel again after then-WWE Champion John Cena, drafted to RAW in June 2005, refused to participate in Bischoff's vendetta against an impending ECW revival.^[15] As a result, Bishcoff "declared war" on Cena (citing disdain for Cena's rapping and "thug nature") and made wrestlers such as Chris Jericho and Christian try to take away the WWE Championship from Cena. In November Bischoff aligned himself with Kurt Angle. After numerous title shots, Cena maintained to have Angle's number. At Survivor Series 2005, Bischoff lost to Smackdown GM Theodore Long in a match which was GM vs. GM; following several months of Raw and SmackDown! Invasions, Bischoff would lose to Long after The Boogeyman helped Long beat Bischoff.

On the December 5 edition of Raw, Eric Bischoff was kayfabe "fired" as General Manager, when Vince McMahon tossed him into a garbage truck - following a "trial" where his history of unscrupulous actions were listed - and had him driven out of the arena. Bischoff then sat out the remainder of the year and spent the start of 2006 writing a book that would become Controversy Creates Cash. Bischoff was against writing a wrestling book initially, as he believes "most are bitter, self-serving revisionist history at best—and monuments to bullshit at their worst."^[16]

Sporadic appearances and departure (2006–2007)[link]

On September 25, 2006, Bischoff appeared on WWE TV for the first time in close to a year, being brought into the ring by Jonathan Coachman where he proceeded to promote his recently finished book Controversy Creates Ca$h (ISBN 1-4165-2729-X) and gave a worked shoot on McMahon and WWE. During his segment Bischoff stated, "Without Monday Nitro there would be no Monday Night Raw...without the nWo there would be no DX...and without Eric Aaron Bischoff there would be no Vincent Kennedy McMahon", after which Bischoff's microphone was immediately cut off and he was escorted from the arena by security. A few days later John Bradshaw Layfield conducted a four-part interview with Bischoff, further discussing his book on WWE.com. During the interview, Bischoff discussed various topics, such as his true feelings towards Lex Luger, his thoughts on ECW promoter Paul Heyman, his decision of giving Kevin Nash booking power, and his overall reaction to the Monday Night Wars. The book was a New York Times best seller.

Bischoff was chosen as the special guest referee for the D-Generation X vs. Rated-RKO match at Cyber Sunday on November 5, with 60% of the vote. He then cheated DX out of the win, leaving Orton and Edge the victors. The next night on Raw, Bischoff was reinstated as General Manager for one night only. During his time as the GM on Raw, he restarted matches if he did not like the outcome. He also got revenge on Maria for her statement made in his trial the year before by making her face Umaga, forced John Cena to "take the night off," and banned DX from the building. He restarted the match between Jeff Hardy and Johnny Nitro for the WWE Intercontinental Championship after Hardy won by DQ. Bischoff restarted that match as a No Disqualification match, and Nitro took advantage of that using Melina to distract Hardy and striking him with the title belt. At the end of the show, DX interfered in the main event when Bischoff tried to help Edge and Randy Orton win the tag team title, and forced him to be humiliated by "Big Dick Johnson" as revenge for costing them their match the night before.

On March 5, 2007, Bischoff made a brief appearance on Raw in Phoenix, Arizona to give Vince McMahon his thoughts on the WrestleMania 23 match against Donald Trump. Then on December 10, 2007, Bischoff made his last appearance with WWE on Raw for its 15th Anniversary Special and was confronted by Chris Jericho, the man whom he fired on Raw in August 22, 2005.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2009–present)[link]

Bischoff at a TNA event in July 2010.

In October 2009, Bischoff was in charge of negotiating a deal among Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Hulk Hogan, and himself.^[17]

He premiered alongside Hogan on the January 4, 2010, edition of TNA Impact! as part of a alliance to take over and rebuild the franchise. Behind the scenes, he was also appointed TNA executive producer and has authority to book matches.^[18]

Despite being a heel when dealing with the likes of Jeff Jarrett, Mick Foley and Abyss,^[19][20] Bischoff refereed his first TNA match at Against All Odds, favoring the face challenger Samoa Joe over the heel champion A.J. Styles in a match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. During the match, as part of the storyline, Bischoff punched out Styles' manager Ric Flair, after he interfered in the match, but the distraction led to Styles retaining his belt.^[21] On the March 15 edition of Impact! Bischoff attempted to shave Mick Foley bald as a punishment for trying to help Jeff Jarrett in a handicap match the previous week, but was shaved bald himself, when Foley turned the tables on him.^[22] At Lockdown Bischoff turned face by helping Team Hogan defeat Team Flair in the Lethal Lockdown match.^[23] The next months Bischoff worked with Hogan, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Bischoff and Hogan were up to something.^[24] During this time Abyss turned on Hogan and went on a rampage, which included attacking the TNA World Heavyweight Champion Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the title, all the while claiming that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA.^[25][26][27] After he manhandled TNA president Dixie Carter on the October 7 edition of Impact!, Bischoff presented Carter with the paperwork that would have Abyss fired after his match with Rob Van Dam at Bound for Glory, which she then proceeded to sign.^[28]

Immortal (2010–2012)[link]

At Bound for Glory Bischoff turned heel with Hogan, as the two of them helped Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Bischoff, Hogan and Hardy then aligned themselves with Abyss and Jeff Jarrett.^[29] On the following edition of Impact! it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune.^[30] On the November 4 edition of Impact!, Bischoff took part in his first match in TNA, challenging the concussed Mr. Anderson to earn his shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, only for Matt Morgan to take his spot and beat Bischoff to become the number one contender.^[31] Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 edition of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA.^[32] On January 31, 2011, at the tapings of the February 3 edition of Impact!, Fortune turned on Immortal, explaining that they were not going to let TNA suffer the same fate as WCW.^[33][34] Hogan, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter, returned to TNA on the March 3 edition of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of the promotion.^[35] However, on the May 12 edition of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Immortal lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant, who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Bischoff and Hogan took over the company, however, this angle was aborted just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion.^[36][37] Also in May, Bischoff declared war on the X Division, after the legitimate firing of Jay Lethal, and on the May 19 edition of Impact Wrestling, wrestled his second TNA match, when he teamed with Matt Hardy in a tag team match, where they defeated Generation Me (Jeremy and Max Buck).^[38][39] The storyline concluded on August 11, when the Network gave the division back to the original X Division wrestlers, after the success of Destination X, which saw Immortal's Abyss lose the X Division Championship to Brian Kendrick.^[40] On October 6, it was reported that Bischoff had signed a contract extension with TNA.^[41] On October 16 at Bound for Glory, after losing control of TNA back to Dixie Carter, Hogan turned on the rest of Immortal by saving Sting from a beatdown at the hands of its members.^[42] Sting had won the match when referee Jackson James, who had earlier in the event been revealed as Bischoff's real-life son Garett Bischoff, reluctantly called the ring bell for a submission, which led to Eric hitting his son with a steel chair following the match, starting a rivalry between the two.^[42] On April 15, 2012 at Lockdown, Eric and Garett captained opposing teams in the annual Lethal Lockdown match. Garett won the match for his team by pinning Eric, forcing his father out of TNA in the process.^[43]

Production career[link]

Bischoff, with actor Jason Hervey, runs his own production company, Bischoff-Hervey Productions, which produces reality TV shows. They produced a live Girls Gone Wild pay-per-view event from Florida in 2003 with WWE and another pay-per-view about the Sturgis, South Dakota motorcycle rally in 2004. They also executive produced the VH1 reality shows Scott Baio Is 45...and Single, and Confessions of a Teen Idol, along with the CMT show Billy Ray Cyrus...Home At Last. Bishoff-Hervey Productions also produced a wrestling reality show called Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling in which ten celebrities were trained to wrestle and one celebrity is voted off weekly. Bischoff also appeared as one of the "judges" on the show. In November 2009, Bischoff helped produce Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania tour to Australia. Bischoff, also has a show in development with Food Network called "Food Fight" where pro wrestlers take on celebrity chefs in cooking and then tag-team with them in a wrestling match.

In 2011, Bischoff was promoted to Executive Producer for TNA Wrestling.^[44]

Personal life[link]

Before getting into professional wrestling, Bischoff had a number of occupations. He owned a successful landscape construction company, worked as a veterinary assistant, competed as a professional kickboxer, and ran a butcher shop, where he sold meat via van delivery. Hulk Hogan would famously refer to this time in his life during a promo at the end of the 1996 WCW pay-per-view event Bash at the Beach in Daytona Beach, Florida, saying, "If it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff would still be selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis."^[45]

Bischoff also appeared in a training video for bank loan officers that covered prohibited lending practices.^{[citation needed]}

Today, Bischoff lives in Cody, Wyoming, with his wife of 25 years, Loree, and his two children, son Garett (born April 20, 1984)^{[citation needed]} and daughter Montanna (born November, 1991)^{[citation needed]}.^[46] Garett, under the ring name Jackson James, made his debut for TNA Wrestling on November 7, 2010, as a referee at Turning Point.^[47]

On May 5, 2011 Eric Bischoff has announced (via twitter), that he was starting a brewing company in his hometown. Their first beverage, called Buffalo Bill Cody Beer, has the phrase "The Spirit of the Wild West" attached to it.^[48] Eric also tweeted that he had been working at this project for a couple of years.^[49]

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • Roundhouse kick
  • Superkick

• Signature moves
  • Various taekwondo kicks and punches

• Managers
  • Miss Elizabeth

• Wrestlers managed
  • Hulk Hogan
  • The New Blood
  • nWo
  • 3-Minute Warning
  • Chris Jericho
  • Kurt Angle
  • Rated-RKO
  • Immortal

• Nicknames
  • Easy "E"

• Entrance themes
  • World Championship Wrestling
    • "Rockhouse" by Frank Shelley (used while a part of the New World Order; 1996–1999)
    • "White Train (Showdown)" by Tito & Tarantula (1997–2000)
  • World Wrestling Entertainment
    • "Back in Black" by AC/DC (2002)
    • "I'm Back" by Ted Nigro (2002–2007)
  • Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
    • "Running with the Bulls" by Dale Oliver^[50] (2010–2012)
    • "Immortal Theme" by Dale Oliver (2010–2012)^[51]

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI Feud of the Year in 1996^[52] vs. Vince McMahon
• PWI Feud of the Year in 2002^[52] vs. Stephanie McMahon

• World Championship Wrestling

• WCW Hardcore Championship (1 time)^[2]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

• Best Non-Wrestler (2005)

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Mick Foley (2000). Have a Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-103101-1. 

External links[link]

Professional wrestling portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eric Bischoff

• TNA profile
• Eric Bischoff at the Internet Movie Database
• EricBischoff.com (Official Website)
• BuffaloBeerCodyBeer.com (Buffalo Bill Cody Beer website)
• Eric Bischoff's Interview with JBL on WWE.com
• Bischoff-Hervey Productions
• Oct 19 2006 Audio Interview with Eric Bischoff
  • Interview recap
• Nov 13 2008 Audio Interview with Eric Bischoff
  • Interview recap
• Eric Bischoff on Twitter

For other persons named Billy James, see Billy James (disambiguation).

For the character "John Boy", see The Waltons.

The John Boy & Billy Big Show

Genre	Talk, Comedy
Running time	4 hours per episode, Monday through Friday
Country	United States
Languages	English
Home station	WRFX 99.7
Syndicates	Premiere Radio Networks
Starring	John Isley, Billy James, Robert D. Raiford, Terry Hanson, Jeff Pillars
Creators	John Isley, Billy James
Directors	Jeff Kent
Producers	Jackie Curry-Lynch
Recording studio	Charlotte, North Carolina
Air dates	since November 8, 1986
Website	TheBigShow.com

John Isley and Billy James, known as John Boy & Billy, named after "John-Boy Harris and brother Bross Harris", are American radio hosts based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their comedic morning program The John Boy & Billy Big Show broadcasts from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. eastern time in several southern and midwestern states via syndication through Premiere Radio Networks.

The show is syndicated to both Classic rock and Country Music radio stations. The format consists of talk segments intermixed with music, contests and skit-based humor. Broadcast states include North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The duo frequently interview musicians, comedians, NASCAR drivers, professional wrestlers, and other public figures. Robert Earl Keen, Killer Beaz, Tim Wilson, Rodney Carrington, and James Gregory are occasional guests. The show also markets a line of Bar-B-Que sauces (named John Boy & Billy Grillin' Sauce).

History[link]

For more than five years, John Boy and Billy hosted the morning show at Top 40 WBCY in Charlotte. Their comic talents made them number one with the station's 18 to 34 listeners. But John Boy quit in February 1986, while Billy stayed for a month and a half, partnering unsuccessfully with Jim "Catfish" Prewitt.^[1]

WRFX, which changed to album rock that same year,^[2] signed John Boy and Billy to do their morning show, but they could not start their new show until November due to a noncompete clause. A $250,000 billboard and television campaign,^[1] in which the jocks had bags over their heads,^[3] preceded their return. On November 8 at 9 A.M., they announced, "They're back!" and played "The Boys Are Back in Town" by Thin Lizzy. One difference on the new station, said John Boy, was "We'll actually listen to the music ... we're rock 'n' roll guys."^[1]

John Boy was arrested at a night club October 21, 1990, and charged with felony possession of marijuana, but the charge was later reduced to a misdemeanor because the amount was small. As part of his plea agreement, John Boy agreed to broadcast anti-drug messages on WRFX.^[4]

Early in 1993, news came out that John Boy and Billy were being asked by Mel Karmazin (boss to Howard Stern) to move to Atlanta, Georgia, and syndicate their show. At the time, WROQ in Greenville, South Carolina, was the only other station carrying the show. WRFX general manager Jack Daniel said the station made a six-year deal that would keep John Boy and Billy at WRFX but also allow the show to be heard in Atlanta, along with Raleigh and Columbia in the Carolinas as well as Texas, with the hosts getting a share of syndication income. One disadvantage: the show would include less locally-oriented humor that people in other markets wouldn't understand.^[5]

By August 1994, the show was heard on 14 radio stations, most playing rock. Two of the stations were sports talk--WRFX-AM (co-owned with flagship WRFX-FM) and WFNS in Tampa, Florida. The other stations were in WZZU in Raleigh; WROQ in Greenville; WSFL in New Bern, North Carolina; WXFX in Montgomery, Alabama; WYBB in Charleston, South Carolina; WMFX in Columbia; WKLC in Charleston, West Virginia; WDRK in Panama City Beach, Florida; WVRK in Columbus, Georgia; WJMX-FM in Florence, South Carolina; WIMZ in Knoxville, Tennessee; and WEKL in Augusta, Georgia.^[6] WRFX-AM went back to sports talk in the morning early in 1995.^[7]

On July 6, the show added KZPS in Dallas, Texas, which at number 7 in the nation was the largest market yet. Now on 19 stations, its largest markets had been Orlando, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee, but now John Boy and Billy had the potential to be mentioned alongside Stern and Don Imus. John Boy hoped to be heard up north, too, though many doubted that would work.^[8]

By 1996, the show was heard on 28 stations in 10 states.^[9] In June of that year the first country station to air the show was WMTD-FM in Beckley, West Virginia.^[10]

In 1999, John Boy and Billy were being heard on 65 rock stations in 18 states, but the show was expected to dramatically increase its potential audience when the producers added the option of country music. WHSL in Greensboro, North Carolina, which like the show and WRFX was owned by Capstar Broadcasting, was one of the first country stations in the network. Prophet Systems Innovations, also owned by Capstar, developed the technology to easily allow different musical programs between talk segments (about three rock songs were played per hour, though country songs tended to be shorter and there might be more of them). Macon Moye, vice president and general manager of the John Boy and Billy network, said the addition of country music would allow the show to be heard in northern states where the show would not fit a rock format. Sean Ross, editor of Airplay Monitor, cautioned that the show might be "too edgy and too male" for some country stations, but Tom Taylor, editor of the M Street Daily Fax of Nashville, Tennessee, believed the show had great potential to expand.^[11]

By 2002, 110 stations carried the show. At this time, oldies stations could broadcast the show with songs specific to their format. This was true when classic rock stations inadvertently aired the Queen song "Another One Bites the Dust" immediately after the show reported about the Beltway sniper attacks in October 2002. Executive producer Randy Brazell said songs were selected in advance and stored using complicated computer software. After the hosts learned from an affiliate what had happened, they decided that to mention it on the air would give the incident more attention; perhaps people had not noticed.^[12]

In 2008 the show gained its first New Jersey affiliate, Country Music station 106.7 WKOE in North Cape May. In April 2009, the show went north of the Mason-Dixon line and went on the air on 95.9 WZDB Sykesville, Pennsylvania "Rockin the Northern Alleghenies".

The show is broadcast with a time-delay.^[13]

Discography[link]

John Boy and Billy released a number of albums between the 1990s to the 2000s.

Main albums[link]

• Economically Priced First Album
• Head Cleaner
• Straight, White & Southern
• Big Ol' Hairy Album
• Two For the Show
• Love Ya…Mean It
• Southern Exposure
• A Barrel of Laughs
• Freakshow
• Dixie Diner
• Rocket Science
• Radioland
• Rough Cuts
• American Goobers
• Karl Childers: Potted Meat
• Karl Childers: Potted Meat Rides Again
• Ike at the Mike
• Songs We Love To Sing

Compilations[link]

• Christmas Album
• Nerve-Wrackin’ Christmas Part 2
• John Boy & Billy: Best of 20

Box sets[link]

• John Boy & Billy in a Box (unavailable; consists of the first four albums listed above)

Other events[link]

John Boy and Billy have a "Comedy Classic Weekend" every year at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina where they make public appearances along with the crew and guest comedians.^[14]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Robert D. Raiford on the Internet Movie Database
• Jeff Pillars on the Internet Movie Database

Chavo Guerrero, Jr.
Guerrero at the WWE Tribute to the Troops event in December 2010
Ring name(s)	Chavo Guerrero[1] Chavito Guerrero Lieutenant Loco[2] Chavo Guerrero, Jr.[2] Kerwin White[3] Swagger Soaring Eagle
Billed height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Billed weight	215 lb (98 kg)[1]
Born	(1970-10-20) October 20, 1970 (age 41)[4] El Paso, Texas[1]
Resides	El Paso, Texas
Billed from	El Paso, Texas[1]
Debut	May 20, 1994[5]

Salvador "Chavo" Guerrero IV^[4][6] (born October 20, 1970)^[4] also known as Chavo Guerrero and Chavo Guerrero, Jr.,^[7] is a third generation Mexican-American professional wrestler and member of the famed Guerrero wrestling family who was well known for working with World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling. He is a one-time world champion, having held the ECW Championship in 2008,^[8][9] a six-time Cruiserweight Champion, a two-time WWE Tag Team Champion with Eddie Guerrero and a one-time WCW World Tag Team Champion with Corporal Cajun.

He is the grandson of Gory Guerrero; the son of Chavo Guerrero, Sr.; the nephew of Eddie Guerrero, Hector Guerrero, Mando Guerrero, and Enrique Llanes; and the cousin of Javier Llanes and Hector Mejia. His grandfather, Gory Guerrero, was one of the most famous wrestlers in Mexican history.^[1] His father, Chavo Guerrero, Sr., was also a legendary wrestler in Mexico and worked in WWE as a part-time wrestler and full-time manager. One of his uncles, Eddie Guerrero, was one of WWE's biggest stars. Eddie performed for the SmackDown! brand,^[1] as did Chavo Sr. (aka Chavo Classic). Chavo Jr. has two other uncles (Mando and Hector) who have had successful careers in the business.

Professional wrestling career[link]

Early career and World Championship Wrestling (1994–2001)[link]

Guerrero made his professional wrestling debut in May 1994 wrestling in Mexico and Japan including New Japan Pro Wrestling.^[2][5] He joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in May 1996.^[5] He made his in-ring debut wrestling Steven Regal.^[5] While in WCW, Guerrero shared the limelight with his uncle Eddie, becoming a reluctant ally of his uncle's. As part of their angle, Eddie would continually try to make Guerrero adopt Eddie's cheating tactics, but Guerrero often refused to do so. Eventually, Guerrero's treatment at the hands of Eddie would drive him "crazy" and Chavo adopted the gimmick of a psycho fixated with a hobby horse he dubbed "Pepé."^[5] This led to a feud with Norman Smiley in which Pepé was thrown into a woodchipper by Smiley.^[10] Another result of his insanity, was his inability to join Eddie's Latino World Order stable, which was a take-off of the nWo. The stable included nearly every Latino wrestler in WCW except Guerrero. Towards the end of 1999 and early 2000, he adopted a salesman gimmick.^[7]

He was also a member of the comedy stable the Misfits In Action (MIA), billed as Lieutenant Loco. As Loco, he defeated Daffney for the WCW Cruiserweight Champion in a triangle match also involving Disco Inferno on the June 7, 2000 episode of Thunder.^[11] Loco lost the championship to Lance Storm a month later on Nitro.^[12] At WCW Mayhem, Loco left the MIA and reverted back to Chavo Guerrero, Jr.^[5]

Guerrero won the Cruiserweight Championship from Mike Sanders on the December 6 episode of Thunder.^[13] Chavo defended and retained the title against Rey Misterio, Jr. on February 18, 2001 at the WCW SuperBrawl Revenge in Nashville, Tennessee. As Cruiserweight Champion, Guerrero engaged in a memorable feud against "Sugar" Shane Helms eventually losing the championship to Helms at WCW Greed.^[14]

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2001–2011)[link]

Los Guerreros (2001–2004)[link]

Guerrero's contract with WCW was one of the twenty-five contracts that were included in WCW's sale to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Like most of the wrestling talent that came over with WCW, Guerrero wrestled under the WCW banner as his WWF debut was as part of The Alliance,^[15] a group of WCW and ECW employees who had, in storyline, invaded WWF after their promotion was bought out by WWF.

Guerrero spent time as an undercard wrestler in the company, which was soon rebranded World Wrestling Entertainment, before becoming a trainer for WWE's second Tough Enough competition. Soon after returning to the active roster, Guerrero was aligned with his uncle Eddie, forming the tag team Los Guerreros.^[16] In contrast to his previous WCW storyline with his uncle, Guerrero fully adopted his uncle's policy of "Lie, Cheat and Steal" to win matches as part of the gimmick. The duo won the WWE Tag Team Championship twice,^[17][18] feuding with such teams as Edge and Rey Mysterio and Team Angle.

The tag team eventually turned into fan favorites and as Eddie's popularity grew, he began seeking the WWE Championship.^[19] In one angle, his uncle's singles title ambitions made Guerrero jealous and Guerrero turned on Eddie, broke from the team, and became a villain again.^[20] He was soon joined by his father Chavo Sr. who sided with his son instead of his brother.^[21] Eddie defeated Chavo at the 2004 Royal Rumble.^[22]

Cruiserweight Champion; Kerwin White (2004–2005)[link]

After the feud with Eddie finished, Guerrero became a wrestler in the cruiserweight division and captured the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on several occasions.^[23]

Chavo as Kerwin White vs Tajiri

On February 15, 2004, at a Smackdown-exclusive No Way Out in Daly City, California, Chavo, with his father, Chavo Classic, in his corner, defeated Rey Mysterio to win the WWE Cruiserweight Title. On a May 4 taping of Smackdown! in Tucson, Arizona, Chavo would eventually drop the title to returning WWE Diva Jacqueline after he issued an open challenge for anyone to face him for his title. He would regain the title on May 16, 2004 at Judgment Day in a match with his hand tied behind his back, though his father Chavo Classic untied it during the match. Chavo again dropped the title on a May 18 taping of Smackdown! in Las Vegas, Nevada, this time to Chavo Classic, who "accidentally" pinned his son in a Triple Threat Match which involved Spike Dudley.

On an August 26, 2004 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero suffered a legitimate concussion due to Billy Kidman's shooting star press and had to be taken to the hospital.^[24] Guerrero returned several months later as a fan favorite again, exacting revenge from Kidman, who had turned into a villain as a result of the injury to Guerrero,^[25] but shortly returned to his villainous persona after receiving a villain reaction after facing then-cruiserweight champion Funaki in a losing effort during a SmackDown! show in Japan.^[26]

Guerrero went on to become Cruiserweight Champion once again at No Way Out in 2005 after eliminating Paul London in a six-way cruiserweight gauntlet match.^[27] He would lose the title to London in a battle royal a few weeks later; Guerrero was the first person eliminated from the battle royal when everyone else in the match ganged up to throw him out right at the beginning.^[28] In reality, Guerrero was forced to drop the title due to a broken orbital bone that would sideline him for several weeks.

On June 30, Guerrero became one of the last minute trades in the 2005 WWE Draft, which saw him jump from SmackDown! to the Raw brand. The next week, on Raw, he denounced his Hispanic heritage in favor of the Anglo-American way.^[29] This came after two weeks of being battered by the Mexican faction, The Mexicools.^[30][31] It led to the changing of his persona to "Kerwin White", a stereotypical, middle-class, white, conservative, Anglo-American man.^[3] He dyed his hair blond and often drove a golf cart to the ring which held his golf clubs.^[3] His new catchphrase became the pun, "If it's not White, it's not right." The phrase later changed to "If it's not Kerwin White, it's not right". It was later phased out entirely. Soon after his debut, White started making suggestive remarks towards African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and other non-White people, specifically directed towards then-babyface, Shelton Benjamin. On an episode of Raw, White cost Shelton a match against Rob Conway.^[32] Benjamin defeated White by disqualification the following week when Kerwin attacked Shelton with his golf club.^[33] At Unforgiven, White was beaten by Benjamin.^[34] White then hired Nick Nemeth (later known as Dolph Ziggler) as his new "caddy" to help him in his matches.^[35]

Aftermath of Eddie's death (2005–2007)[link]

Guerrero makes his entrance at a WWE house show in Canada

On the morning of November 13, 2005, Guerrero checked into the same hotel as his uncle, Eddie, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Guerrero was alerted by hotel security that Eddie did not respond to a wake-up call and opened the locked door to the room, Guerrero found his uncle, but as he said in his video tribute to Eddie, someone who he saw as "his brother" due to the fact they were close to the same age and practically grew up together, unconscious. Guerrero attempted CPR but Eddie was declared dead when paramedics arrived on the scene.

Later that afternoon, Guerrero appeared at a press conference with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to address Eddie's death. They announced that both shows that week would be tributes to Eddie.^[36] These events resulted in Guerrero dropping the Kerwin White gimmick and wrestling under his real name as a fan favorite to continue the Guerrero legacy. Under his real name, he defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) on the November 18, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, using the "Three Amigos" triple suplexes and the Frog Splash in tribute to Eddie.^[37] He also used the cheating tactic of throwing a steel chair to an opponent who catches it (while laying down himself) as the referee turns around and disqualifies the opponent, which Eddie made famous.

On the February 24, 2006 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero attacked Randy Orton with the Three Amigos and the frog splash when Orton began to insult Eddie, and talked about the heritage of the Guerreros. Guerrero was soon dragged out by security, but kept yelling to Orton "You forgot about the Guerreros - the greatest wrestling family!" and "You forgot me!".^[38] On the February 27 episode of Raw, Guerrero faced off against now-heel, Shelton Benjamin in a qualifying match for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 22. During the match, Orton interfered and hit Guerrero with the RKO. This allowed Shelton to get the pinfall victory.^[39] On the April 3 episode of Raw, Guerrero came out to address the crowd. He thanked the fans for all the support they had given him and his family and for keeping Eddie's spirit alive, but he expressed his disappointment in not having a title match at WrestleMania 22. He felt that night would become his WrestleMania and he was going to dedicate his match to his Eddie. He proceeded to challenge Shelton Benjamin for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, but ended up losing after he missed a Frog Splash, allowing Benjamin to connect with his T-Bone Suplex finisher. In a segment that aired on WWE Unlimited, an emotional Guerrero decided to quit WWE, in storyline, after believing he had let his family, Eddie, and the fans down and expressed his doubts about being a wrestler.^[40]

On May 13, Guerrero appeared at a SmackDown! house show in El Paso, defeating then-heel, Finlay. Guerrero also appeared at Judgment Day to support Rey Mysterio.^[41] Guerrero would then support Mysterio for a few weeks on SmackDown!. At the Great American Bash, Guerrero interfered in Mysterio's World Heavyweight Championship match, ostensibly to help Mysterio.^[42] Guerrero turned into a villain once more, however, by hitting Mysterio with a steel chair, which allowed challenger King Booker to win the match.^[42] On the August 4 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero accused Rey of using Eddie's name to succeed, claiming that Rey disrespected Eddie's memory. Guerrero went on to beat Mysterio at SummerSlam, after Vickie Guerrero accidentally knocked Mysterio off the top turnbuckle. On August 25, Vickie came down to the ring to apologize to Mysterio and Guerrero. Vickie ended up turning on Mysterio by hitting him in the back with a steel chair. The following week on SmackDown!, Vickie announced herself as Guerrero's new manager. Weeks later on October 8, Mysterio gained his revenge on Guerrero by defeating him in a Falls Count Anywhere match at No Mercy. Guerrero eventually challenged Mysterio to an "I Quit" match, in which Guerrero won after inflicting multiple chair shots to Rey Mysterio. As per the condition of the match, Mysterio was forced to leave SmackDown!, possibly ending the emotional feud between the two.

A week later, Chris Benoit, another old friend of Eddie's, tried talking to Vickie, but she would not hear it. It started a feud between Guerrero and Benoit and both men would have numerous confrontations over the following weeks. Benoit defeated Guerrero to retain the WWE United States Championship at the Survivor Series. After weeks of continued interaction, the two faced off in a United States title rematch at Armageddon that Guerrero also lost when he tapped out to a Sharpshooter. Guerrero got yet another rematch the following Friday, losing the match after Vickie hit Benoit with the title belt. Guerrero snapped after the match, knocking over Vickie and attacking Benoit. The feud concluded with Benoit forcing Guerrero to submit in a No Disqualification match.

Guerrero makes his entrance at a WWE house show

At No Way Out, Guerrero was labeled a surprise entrant in a Cruiserweight Open Match by the announcers (despite already having been advertised as one of the wrestlers in the match on WWE.com and on the No Way Out merchandise); he entered last and pinned Jimmy Wang Yang after a frog splash, thus winning the Cruiserweight Championship from Gregory Helms.^[43] On June 24, Guerrero retained his title against Jimmy Wang Yang at Vengeance: Night of Champions.^[44] He then retained his title on the June 29 episode of SmackDown! in a triple threat match that also involved Jamie Noble and Funaki, when he pinned Funaki after the Gory Bomb.^[45] At The Great American Bash, he lost the Cruiserweight title in a Cruiserweight open when Hornswoggle pinned Noble (Hornswoggle was not originally in the match but was in the ring when the bell rang, thus becoming an official entrant).^[46]

Guerrero then turned his attention to Rey Mysterio, whom he had put out of action, in storyline, in 2006. Before Mysterio's return at SummerSlam, Guerrero mocked Mysterio's knee injury and taunted him during matches.^[47][48][49] He was, however, unable to defeat Mysterio at the pay-per-view.^[50] He then lost an "I Quit" rematch to Mysterio, when Mysterio continued to assault Chavo's left knee with a steel chair, which is what Chavo did to Mysterio in the first "I Quit" match thus injuring him in storyline.^[51] This allowed Guerrero to have time off to serve his suspension for violating the WWE Wellness Policy.^[52]

ECW Champion and La Familia (2007–2009)[link]

Guerrero ECW Champion in 2008.

Chavo remained inactive until the December 18, 2007 episode of ECW, where he appeared after the main event between WWE United States Champion Montel Vontavious Porter and ECW Champion CM Punk and proceeded to attack the vulnerable ECW Champion, sending a message that he wanted a title shot.^[53]

With the beginning of 2008, Guerrero entered a feud with CM Punk regarding his ECW title. Guerrero challenged Punk to several matches^[54][55] until he finally won the third via countout after interference from World Heavyweight Champion Edge to earn a championship match.^[56][57] The previous matches he lost via countout and disqualification.^[54][55] On the January 22 episode of ECW, Guerrero defeated CM Punk in a No Disqualification match to win the ECW Championship following interference from Edge. In the process he proclaimed Edge and company as his "familia".^[8][58][59] He then successfully defended his title against CM Punk at No Way Out and on the March 4 episode of ECW, both times pinning Punk after a frog splash.^[60]

At WrestleMania XXIV, Guerrero lost the ECW Championship to Kane in a record eight seconds.^[61] Shortly afterward, Bam Neely debuted to act as his bodyguard. Shortly after losing the ECW Championship, Guerrero had several attempts to regain the ECW Championship including losing to Kane at Backlash and also failing to become the number one contender at One Night Stand. Guerrero became involved in the Edge-Undertaker rivalry at this point, but Edge later turned on all La Familia teammates, including Guerrero. After this, Guerrero returned to singles and tag team action with Neely, feuding with ECW newcomers Evan Bourne and Ricky Ortiz, and also attempted to regain the ECW Championship at Unforgiven in a Championship Scramble match, but failed. He also was embroiled in the Undertaker-Big Show storyline, and lost a Casket match to the Undertaker on October 31. After that he tried to win the ECW Championship from Matt Hardy, but he failed to win the title.

Final storylines and departure (2009–2011)[link]

Guerrero during his feud with Hornswoggle in 2009.

Guerrero was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft.^[62] He then became involved in the feud between Vickie Guerrero and Santino Marella, in which he attempted to help his Aunt in law on numerous occasions. At Extreme Rules, Guerrero and his aunt faced Santina in a Hog Pen match, in which the duo lost. Upon Vickie's departure from WWE, Chavo continued to feud with Marella and defeated him on the June 18 episode of WWE Superstars.^[63]

Guerrero next feuded with Hornswoggle, where the two constantly faced off in various types of matches (in which a handicap of some sort was imposed on Guerrero by the various celebrity guests left in charge of Raw every week) with Hornswoggle gaining the win. Chavo then turned his attention towards the guest hosts themselves. On December 7, Chavo and Jillian Hall teamed up to take on Eve Torres and Hornswoggle where Eve pinned Jillian. After the match he tried to beat up Hornswoggle but Eve stood up to him. Chris Masters then came in and applied the Master Lock on him then threw him on the ground; Masters then left the ring with Eve with Hornswoggle standing over Chavo. On December 4, Chavo got an upset victory over Primo. On the January 14, 2010 episode of WWE Superstars, Chavo and Jillian faced Gail Kim and Primo where Gail Kim kicked Chavo then Primo rolled him up for the pin. Chavo then started a minor feud with Primo when Chavo and Carlito lost to Evan Bourne and Primo on the February 18 episode of WWE Superstars.

As part of the 2010 WWE Supplemental Draft, Guererro was drafted back to the SmackDown brand. On Chavo's first night back to Smackdown, Kane came out and chokeslammed him during a promo to welcome him back to Smackdown. He then started an alliance with Dolph Ziggler to feud with Christian. Guerrero and Ziggler teamed up in a tag team match against Christian and Hornswoggle, but they were defeated. The duo competed in a handicap match against Christian, which concluded in a victory at the hands of Ziggler and Guerrero. They both competed in a Battle Royal to determine who would replace The Undertaker in the World Heavyweight Championship match at Fatal Four Way, which was won by Rey Mysterio. On the July 9th episode of Smackdown, Guerrero competed in a triple threat Money in the Bank qualifying match, along with Dolph Ziggler and MVP. Throughout the match, it became apparent that Vickie Guerrero (Ziggler's manager) had told Guerrero and Ziggler to work together to ensure Ziggler qualified for Smackdown's Money in the Bank ladder match. During the match, however, when both MVP and Ziggler were down, Guerrero attempted to pin MVP to win the match himself, turning his back on Vickie and Ziggler, thus ending the alliance. Ziggler did win the match, however, by forcing MVP to submit to the sleeper hold. On the August 26th episode of WWE Superstars, Guerrero debuted a new shorter ring attire in his match with Kofi Kingston. Guerrero soon started portraying the Swagger Soaring Eagle, however this was later dropped.

On January 30, 2011, Chavo competed in the 2011 Royal Rumble match as the tenth entry. Chavo had a notable spot in the Royal Rumble match, attempting Three Amigos on Ted DiBiase Jr., but CM Punk disrupted him at 2 so Chavo gave them to Punk, but John Morrison breaks it up at 2, so Chavo did it to Morrison and Daniel Bryan nails him at 2 again so Chavo finally gets all Three Amigos on Bryan. Chavo was then quickly eliminated by the eleventh entrant, Mark Henry.^[64]

On March 8, Chavo was announced as a NXT Pro to Darren Young for the fifth season of WWE NXT. On the May 6 episode of SmackDown, Chavo commentated on a match between Tyson Kidd and Sin Cara, which Sin Cara won. After the match, Chavo and Sin Cara shook hands, with Chavo hinting at a future match between them. On the May 13 episode of SmackDown, Chavo interfered in the match between Sin Cara and Daniel Bryan, helping Sin Cara win. At Over The Limit, Sin Cara defeated Guerrero, and again on SmackDown (which turns out to be his last appearance on Smackdown), to end their feud. Afterwards, he mainly appeared on NXT with his rookie Darren Young. His last match in WWE was teaming up with JTG and Darren Young against Yoshi Tatsu, Conor O'Brian and Vladimir Kozlov on NXT in a losing effort.

On June 25, 2011, at his request, Guerrero was released by WWE.^[65]

Independent circuit (2011–present)[link]

Chavo Guerrero appeared for the first time since his WWE departure at WWC's Anniversario event on July 15 and 16, 2011.^[66] On July 16, Guerrero defeated El Sensacional Carlitos and Orlando Colón to win the WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship.^[67]

In December 2011, Guerrero took part in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's India project, Ring Ka King. During the first week of tapings, Guerrero and Bulldog Hart were crowned the promotion's inaugural Tag Team Champions.^[68] On episode 18 of Ring Ka King Guerrero competed in a cage match but ended up losing.

Personal life[link]

Chavo is the son of Salvador "Chavo" Guerrero and Nancy Vasquez.^[69] He is married and has two sons. His wife's name is Susan, and they have been married since 1998.^{[citation needed]}

On August 30, 2007, Guerrero, along with nine other WWE wrestlers were named by Sports Illustrated to be given illegal steroids not in compliance with the Talent Wellness program. Guerrero received somatropin, nandrolone, and anastrozole between April 2005 and May 2006. Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Brian Adams were also discovered to have been given steroids prior to their deaths during this investigation, as well as former WWE Wrestler Sylvain Grenier.^[52][70]

In June 2007, Chris Benoit (a close friend of Guerrero), his wife Nancy, and their son Daniel were found dead at their home (their deaths have been since ruled a double homicide-suicide).^[71] Guerrero was reportedly one of the last people to talk to Benoit and one of the people Benoit sent text messages to before killing himself.^[72]

In wrestling[link]

• Finishing moves
  • As Chavo Guerrero
    • Frog splash^[1] – adopted from and used as a tribute to his uncle Eddie Guerrero - 2005–present
    • Gory bomb (Innovated) - 1995–present
    • Tornado DDT - 1997-1998 -WCW
  • As Kerwin White
    • Brainbuster
    • White Out (Roll-through into a single leg boston crab)

• Signature moves
  • Back body drop
  • Death Valley driver – WCW
  • Diving crossbody
  • European uppercut^[73]
  • Frankensteiner
  • Gory special – adopted from his grandfather Gory Guerrero
  • Loco Lock (Cross-legged Inverted STF)^[2] – WCW
  • Missile dropkick^[2]
  • Monkey flip to cornered opponent
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • German
    • Northern lights^[2]
    • Saito
    • Sitout slam
    • Three Amigos^[74] (Triple rolling verticals) – adopted from and used as a tribute to his uncle Eddie Guerrero.
  • Plancha^[2]
  • Running hip attack to a cornered opponent
  • Rolling wheel kick^[75]
  • Roll-through into a single leg Boston crab
  • Sitout inverted suplex slam
  • Sitout side powerslam^[2]
  • Spinning tilt-a-whirl headscissors takedown^[2]
  • Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker^[76]

• Managers
  • Major Gunns
  • Chavo Classic
  • Edge
  • Eddie Guerrero
  • Nick Nemeth
  • Jack Swagger
  • Vickie Guerrero
  • Bam Neely
  • Matt Striker

• Entrance Themes
  • World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
    • "We Lie, We Cheat, We Steal" by Jim Johnston (Used while partnering with Eddie Guerrero; March 20, 2003–January 8, 2004)
    • "Chavito Ardiente" by Jim Johnston (May 2004–June 30, 2005,November 2005-June 2011)^{[citation needed]}
    • "Never Thought My Life Could Be This Good" by Jim Johnston (2005) As Kerwin White
  • World Wrestling Council
    • "Chavito Ardiente" by Jim Johnston (July 15, 2011–present)^{[citation needed]}

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him # 17 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2004^[77]

• Ring Ka King
  • Ring Ka King Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Bulldog Hart^[68]

• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW Cruiserweight Championship (2 times)^[78]
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[79] – with Corporal Cajun

• World Wrestling Council
  • WWC Caribbean Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)^[67]

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • ECW Championship (1 time)^[8]
  • WWE Cruiserweight Championship (6 times)^[78]
  • WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times)^[17] – with Eddie Guerrero

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Tag Team of the Year (2002) with Eddie Guerrero^[80]
  • Worst Feud of the Year (2009) vs. Hornswoggle^[81]

Luchas de Apuestas[link]

References[link]